What Is a Vulnerability Assessment and How Does It Work?

Vulnerability assessment is a preventative cyber security method that systematically and methodically seeks security flaws in your apps, workstations, or corporate network. IT risk management relies heavily on this technique since it helps security teams organize vulnerabilities in order of severity so that they may be fixed as soon as possible.

Security Vulnerability Assessment Process

The following is a thorough outline of how to conduct a security posture scan and find new vulnerabilities.

1. Initial Assessment: The first steps in the vulnerability assessment process include compiling a list of the company’s most critical IT assets that store its most sensitive data. Other data, such as the number of open ports, is also recorded by security teams to establish system baselines.
2. Vulnerability Scanning: This involves counting all the holes in a company’s IT security that have been discovered thus far. Automated scanning technologies, vulnerability databases, and threat intelligence feeds are standard methods of reliance for IT security teams while searching for security vulnerabilities. Scanners for security weaknesses complement other vulnerability management and network security programs to provide an accurate picture of potential threats.
3. Vulnerability Analysis: Basically, it’s about finding out where most companies get it wrong with their security so you can prevent them. Improper device settings or antiquated hardware may be at the heart of unexpected equipment failures. At this point, security analysts do more than identify the root cause of the issue; they also classify and rank known vulnerabilities according to the severity or Common Vulnerability Scoring System (CVSS) score given to them.
4. Remediation: Seeks to improve a company’s IT security by implementing firmware updates, configuration changes, and introducing new hardware. With automated technologies, companies may improve their security controls and discover vulnerabilities in mission-critical programs, workstations, and virtual servers more rapidly.
5. Document and Repeat: Ultimately, vulnerability analysts compile a comprehensive assessment report that details the security holes, their severity, possible effects, and suggested countermeasures. The results of such analyses are crucial for efficiently managing IT risk. If businesses care about the safety of their networks, they should run tests like this regularly.

Types of Vulnerability Assessments

Some typical techniques for identifying security holes are described below.

1. Web Applications Assessment
2. Host assessment
3. Network assessment
4. Database Assessment

After making significant modifications to the IT infrastructure, the security team will frequently conduct internal and external vulnerability scans to look for any unforeseen attack surfaces. They use automated vulnerability detection techniques to perform both assessments quickly and effectively. Now we’ll get into the nitty-gritty of these two scan types:

1. Internal Vulnerability Scan: This approach is consistent with the zero-trust security philosophy, which holds that institutions must not put any faith in the integrity of the systems or people operating inside their own.
2. External Vulnerability Scan: Examines the vulnerabilities of the parts of the IT infrastructure that are exposed to the internet or external users (such as network ports).

Vulnerability Assessment versus Penetration Testing

Organizations may strengthen their cyber defenses and maintain compliance with different types of data protection laws via network vulnerability assessment and penetration testing. Let’s get into each one individually.

The IT assets of a company are often examined using automated vulnerability detection technologies. Every time a network is monitored, automatic vulnerability scanners compile a comprehensive report explaining every discovered vulnerability, along with its severity, urgency, and effect. To categorize and prioritize vulnerabilities, this vulnerability scanner uses CVSS. The reports may include false positives, where the security hole discovered during the network scan was not a danger or vulnerability.

Penetration testing, on the other hand, simulates an actual cyberattack by sending “ethical hackers,” also known as “penetration testers,” to breach a company’s defenses and steal sensitive information using methods like SQL injection, buffer overflow, and brute force. The cost, scope, and effort put into a penetration test make vulnerability assessments seem like a bargain in comparison.

Vulnerability Testing

Vulnerability Testing is a subfield of Software Engineering that requires two other subfields, Vulnerability Assessment tools and Penetration Tests, to function correctly. The two assessments are very different in terms of difficulty and scope. However, combining the two methods is advised to get a thorough report on Vulnerability Testing.